Jones close to knowing his starting 11 for Yeovil opener

Mike Simmonds

Hatters boss Nathan Jones is close to knowing who he will select in his starting 11 to begin the League Two campaign at home to Yeovil Town next month.

The Luton chief has made seven signings this summer so far and has utilised his whole squad during the pre-season schedule thus far.

There’s some competition there, but we want everyone fit, everyone ready at a real good level as we know it’s going to be a long season.

Nathan Jones

On whether he knows who he will pick to face the Glovers, Jones said: “It’s open to a certain extent as we want everyone being competitive.

“I have an idea of what I’d like to play, but certain people come into your plans and we have a squad now, that if any time you change one or two, it’s no surprise as we have that much competition.

“But as I said, I’m close to knowing. We’ve had a few big players, James Justin, Alan Sheehan, Danny Hylton, who you’d expect to be really challenging for first team places are not quite ready yet, so a lot of things happen in pre-season.”

Hatters continue their preparation by hosting Leicester City on Wednesday evening and then entertaining League One Scunthorpe United next weekend.

Jones added: “They’re big tests ahead of us moving into the first game against Yeovil, but god willing, everyone’s fit at the minute which is the biggest thing.

“That’s what we want and then we’ll be getting to the nitty gritty and whittling our team down to the starting 11.

“There’s some competition there, but we want everyone fit, everyone ready at a real good level as we know it’s going to be a long season.”